According to reports, as the U.S. government considers further restricting Huawei, the Chinese telecom equipment maker, and ZTE’s activities in the United States, many small US operators that rely on the two companies to supply low-cost equipment find that they are completely useless.
For US operators who purchase network equipment and mobile phones from Chinese companies, they may face the situation of the lack of Chinese suppliers. Some companies may have to give up their existing network equipment, and other companies may face no cheap mobile phones in the store. The problem may be to lose a part of the value-conscious consumers.
With more bad news about Chinese suppliers coming out, small US operators are facing this trouble.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States is considering restricting Chinese companies from selling telecommunications equipment in the United States on the grounds of national security concerns. The US Department of Defense also restricts the sale of its military base stores to Huawei, ZTE’s mobile phones and modems, may consider targeting Chinese manufacturers Consultation of equipment development department.
In April this year, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a ban on ZTE to ban it from sourcing components from the United States. John Marick, CEO of Small Cellular, the US small-scale operator, said that this means that ZTE cannot obtain mobile phone sales in the United States. Needed chips.
'For every company that sells ZTE's equipment in the United States, they are all busy filling this gap (ZTE's mobile phone left),' said Marrick. The data from the market research company Counterpoint shows that In the fourth quarter of last year, ZTE took up 10% of shipments of smart phones in North America. In the United States, Huawei is a small mobile phone provider, but market research firm Gartner's data shows that it is the world's third-largest smart machine vendor.
Verizon Communications, a large US operator, Sprint declined to comment. AT&T and T-Mobile USA have not commented yet. In January of this year, both Verizon and AT&T gave up their plans to sell Huawei phones in the United States because of pressure from the U.S. government. U.S. legislators once again stated that there may be security problems with equipment manufactured in China.
Looking for alternative suppliers
Malik said that he has negotiated with other suppliers, including Nokia's Alcatel, Lenovo's Motorola, but the supply gap may be up to several months, he could not provide their customers with low-cost equipment options they like. Currently, Consumer Cellular is selling a ZTE mobile phone that sells for $60. Once the inventory is sold out, Consumer Cellular's lowest-priced handset will become $100.
'Many users chose us because of cheap equipment. That's why ZTE products can take a place in our product portfolio,' said Marrick.
Another carrier, LHTC Broadband, is also in trouble, because the company's network project to provide video and high-speed Internet has completed about 75%, and the installation of Huawei equipment.
'Obviously, we are very worried,' said Jim Kail, CEO of LHTC Broadband. 'This creates uncertainty, so to say the least. Now that this special project has been completed by 75%, we can hardly stop it. , Change direction. We hope we don't need to tear down the rebuilding. ' Kyle said that if he can't continue to cooperate with Huawei, he may instead cooperate with existing network communications provider Calix, Adtran.
At the same time, the operator Eastern Oregon Telecom is not currently clear which supplier it can cooperate with. 'If cooperation with Huawei is completely banned, Then we have to rebuild some of the networks, which will pay a high price. As a result, I don’t have as much money to expand into the rural market. , 'East CEO Joe Franell (Joe Franell) said, 'This is a loss for the rural areas of the United States.'
'Cisco, Juniper Networks and other vendors have higher asking prices,' he said.
